Title 24, Highways, Bridges, and Ferries

The director is authorized and empowered to make all contracts and to do all things necessary to cooperate with the United States government in the administration of grants and other discretionary funding mechanisms administered through any appropriate federal agency which the de…

The director shall prepare and adopt uniform standard plans and specifications for the establishment, construction, and maintenance of the state highways and bridges within this state. Such plans and specifications may be amended, from time to time, as the director deems advisabl…

The director has the authority, and is responsible for the construction, maintenance, protection, and control of the highways which comprise the state highway system. The director shall patrol and keep said system in good and safe condition for general public use.

In case of great emergency requiring immediate action, and if delay would cause a public injury, the work may be done by the department by force account.

Whenever, during the construction work on any state highway or at any other time, it may be necessary to prevent traffic from passing over any portion of such highway, the department may close such portion of the highway to all traffic by causing to be posted in a conspicuous man…

All highways constructed or reconstructed by the department, board of county commissioners, board of township supervisors, their contractors, subcontractors, or agents, or by any individual firm, corporation, or limited liability company must be so designed as to permit the water…

The director, when notified by the board of drain commissioners of any drainage district that it is necessary to run a drain across any state or federal-aid highway, shall make the necessary opening through such highway and shall build and keep in repair suitable culverts or brid…

Whenever and wherever a highway under the supervision, control, and jurisdiction of the department or under the supervision, control, and jurisdiction of the board of county commissioners of any county or the board of township supervisors has been or will be constructed over a wa…

Whenever the department or any county or township enters into a contract for the construction and improvement of any road or culvert, or bridge thereon, it, as a condition of such contract, shall provide therein that the contractor shall place warning signs and devices which are …

Whenever a township, county, or the department shall construct, improve, or repair any road, culvert, or bridge, or shall gravel any road, and such work renders travel on such road, culvert, or bridge unsafe or dangerous, the board of supervisors of any such township, the board o…

Any person in charge of any work or repairs on any public road, culvert, or bridge who fails or neglects to erect and maintain suitable warning signs as provided in sections 24-03-09 and 24-03-10 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

The office of management and budget, acting as a central purchasing agency of the state, has authority to purchase, lease, or acquire all road material, road machinery, tools, equipment, and supplies necessary for use in constructing, maintaining, controlling, and administering t…

The office of management and budget or the director, when the authority to purchase is delegated to the director, may purchase equipment, materials, supplies, or other personal property useful to the department, from the United States government, or any of its officers, agents, a…

The director has authority to construct, rent, or purchase for the state the necessary land and buildings for the storage and housing of road materials, road machinery, equipment, and tools.

The director is authorized to sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of all obsolescent road machinery, equipment, and material no longer needed, required, or useful for highway purposes. All such obsolescent road machinery, equipment, and material offered for sale to political sub…

The director has the authority to inspect and test all materials, supplies, equipment, and machinery used by the department and to develop methods and procedures for this purpose.

The director has the authority to maintain and develop a testing laboratory to carry out the requirements of section 24-03-16. The department may, upon request of any division or agency of government, make available the services and facilities of said testing laboratory, and make…

The director shall, to the extent practicable, prepare, print, and distribute manuals of standard and uniform methods for any of the activities, divisions, or work of the department, or for general road and bridge construction, design, land acquisition, traffic control, maintenan…

The director has the authority to gather, investigate, and compile information concerning the use, construction, and maintenance of highways, the practices and methods of efficient highway organization, financing, and such other information, data, and statistics of this state or …

The director has the authority to collect, analyze, and interpret all physical and economic data needed to measure existing and estimated future street and highway traffic characteristics, such as, origin and destination, volumes, speeds, accidents, congestion, parking, pedestria…

The commissioner shall prepare for general distribution road maps of the state highway system and other roads as the commissioner determines necessary. Any tourist-oriented material printed on road maps must be prepared by the department of commerce division of tourism at no cost…

The department is hereby authorized to purchase, install, and maintain a department of transportation radio communications network out of funds now and hereinafter designated as state highway maintenance funds. The department is further authorized to enter into an agreement with …

No part of the right of way for state highways may be encroached upon by erection thereon of any structure, or placing thereon any personal property, other than a temporary parking of a motor vehicle, without a written permit from the director. Any encroachment may be caused to b…

The legislative assent required by section 1 of the Act of Congress approved July 11, 1916, Public Law No. 156, entitled "An Act to provide that the United States shall aid the states in the construction of rural post roads, and for other purposes," is hereby given. The director …

In the selection and designation of highway systems, as provided for under this title, due consideration must be given to those highways on which federal-aid funds have been expended, and when practicable and justifiable, such federal-aid highways must be included in said systems…

The director may receive and expend any funds within the limits of legislative appropriations made available by the Congress of the United States to be applied on the county road system, and other roads or streets not on the state highway system and to assist in the development a…

A municipality, through its governing body, wherever a federal-aid highway is routed through such municipality, may participate in the financing, planning, construction, and acquisition of right of way of said highway.

Any municipality may raise funds for the purpose of meeting its share of the cost of construction, financing, planning, or acquiring a right of way of a federal-aid highway through general taxes to be levied at large throughout such municipality, or where such highway in the opin…

All provisions of law relating to the levying of taxes for internal improvements of municipalities and the levying of special assessments for such improvements are applicable to sections 24-04-04 and 24-04-05 insofar as they are not inconsistent with the general purpose thereof, …

The board of county commissioners of any county shall periodically prepare a proposed county construction program of roads on the county road system, setting forth a general description of the roads to be constructed, the location of bridges constituting a part of the program, th…

The county road and bridge fund created by section 24-05-01 may be expended only for road machinery and for grading, ditching, and surfacing, and implementation of the proposed county construction program of roads on the county road system.

The board of county commissioners, in case of each improvement ordered by it, shall designate the place of beginning and the direction in which the work must proceed, and shall require the same to be completed mile [1.61 kilometers] by mile [1.61 kilometers] or in parts of miles …

1. If a contract for a highway improvement exceeds two hundred thousand dollars, the board of county commissioners shall seek bids by publishing an advertisement at least once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official newspaper of the county and in other newspapers as t…

No county, city, or township may lease, rent, or enter into a contract or agreement for the use of any road construction or maintenance equipment belonging to any county, city, or township on other than county, city, or township roads or projects at a rate which is less than the …

Upon the filing of the surveyor's certificate as provided in section 24-05-03, the county auditor shall issue warrants accordingly on the county treasurer in favor of the contractor, payable out of the county road and bridge fund appropriated thereto, and the same must be paid by…

Whenever the expense of constructing a highway or any part thereof is to be borne by the county, the board of county commissioners thereof has the power to deviate from section and township lines and to condemn and purchase right of way for such highway, if in its opinion the cos…

Whenever the board of county commissioners of any county bordered by a state line deems it for the best interests of such county to open and improve a highway on said state line, it may negotiate with the proper officials of the adjoining county or state, and may make contracts o…

The board of county commissioners of any county of the state, by resolution or order, as part of the cost of constructing, reconstructing, widening, altering, changing, locating, relocating, aligning, realigning, or maintaining, any highway in said county, may purchase, acquire, …

If the board of county commissioners is unable to purchase the lands required for the purposes mentioned in section 24-05-09 at a price that the board determines reasonable, the board by order or resolution shall declare the necessity for the taking of the lands. The board of cou…

Within fifteen days after the making of an order or the passing of a resolution as provided in section 24-05-10, the special board therein specified shall fix a time and place not later than thirty days from and after the passage of said order or resolution for hearing all person…

When damages have been awarded by the special board, the board of county commissioners shall pay or cause to be paid to the clerk of the district court, for the benefit of the persons interested, the sum awarded by said board, said amount to be paid in cash. Every owner entitled …

If no appeal is taken from an award made as provided in section 24-05-11, then at the expiration of thirty days from the date of the deposit of the amount awarded, the receipt of the owner of said premises, or of the clerk of the district court, must be recorded in the office of …

Any party aggrieved by the award made as provided in section 24-05-11 shall have the remedy now provided by law for an appeal from any determination of the board of county commissioners in the taking of lands by a county for highway purposes. Appeal from such award must be taken …

Notwithstanding the taking of an appeal as provided for in section 24-05-14, the board of county commissioners may proceed with the use of the property so condemned and is liable for any additional amount awarded to the appellant upon such appeal.

The county road system must be the roads designated and selected by the boards of county commissioners. The director must be informed of the system so designated. Any changes of the original designation which can be justified and based on new developments must be made by the boar…

The boards of county commissioners in their respective counties have the sole authority and responsibility to acquire land for, construct, maintain, and operate the county road system as designated and selected by them. If a board of county commissioners determines a local road m…

Whenever any board of county commissioners of any county decides that any county road or roads in such county must be improved or constructed in cooperation with the department, such board shall make written application to the director for the improvement and construction thereof…

The election to proceed with an improvement as provided in section 24-05-18 by the board of county commissioners constitutes an agreement and contract with the director and the board of county commissioners shall provide sufficient funds in accordance with law to defray its share…

All county and township roads shall be constructed with back sloped grades and ditches. Such grades and ditches shall be sloped to a sufficient degree to permit farm implements used for cutting and gathering hay to operate thereon, and such grades and ditches shall be cleared of …

All roads and approaches constructed after July 1, 1973, which intersect with county or township roads, must have a graded inslope at the place of intersection of at least a three-to-one ratio, thus permitting vehicles which may accidentally leave any county or township road and …